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So here's what I found after poking around a bit. I took the spark plugs out of both sides of the motor and all 8 plugs had burned coolant on them. There's zero contamination of oil in my coolant and vice versa. This would lead me to believe it's an intake manifold gasket. Judging by how even the white is on all 8 plugs I'm not aware of anything else it could potentially be...? It would make a lot of sense if an intake manifold gasket truly is my issue.
The first photo the plugs are in this order: 1,3,5,7 from left to right
The second photo the plugs are in this order: 2,4,6,8 from left to right
The picture with a little of the pink coolant around where the coolant pipe goes into the throttle body housing is old coolant. Pretty sure that rouge nut is from when the dealer did my water pump and timing belt...Brings so much confidence! Anyways, it isn't leaking to my knowledge anymore unless somehow its pulling magic tricks on me. There's green coolant in the car now besides that. I am curious if there's a chance of a gasket or an O ring that may have failed inside the throttle body that could be letting coolant right into the intake manifold? I don't fully know the design "ins" and "outs" of the car super well which is why I threw that out there. Just trying to not miss anything.
yikes.........Im no mechanic so I am not sure what I would have thought about white looking plugs...I didnt realize that was from coolant. I thought white color plugs were from burning hot....or lean......as for the green coolant....I guess it wasnt a Lexus dealer that did the timing belt and water pump service.....bummer.......I insisted on the pink stuff.
I wont be happy if thats my leak issue.......but I changed my plugs and they all looked perfect at 135k.......even the threads........and i have residue on the top of my over flow tub.
Thanks for your follow up report........sorry your going through this crap.........keep us in the loop
In the aircraft world we call this FOD. Foreign Object Damage, even if it doesn't damage anything. In this pic, I believe there's a loose nut wedged between the manifold and (butterfly housing?)? Not a big deal, doesn't look like it's going anywhere, but if you're missing a 15mm-ish looking nut, it's laying right there, bottom left of the pic.
I thought he mentioned the rogue nut.......Maybe this is another one...I saw it too. And if you look closely at it.....it appears to have been rubbing hard against the opposing part........I would not be pleased with that shop.....that being said I am never pleased with any shops
I top my coolant up regularly but only a very few ounces maybe twice a year. My reservoir is usually coated with pinks spots (ever since I purchased the car 9 years ago) and I clean around it only to see it again in a few thousand miles. Considering what a small quantity I add, I'm ok with it and have been reassured by Lexus that most reservoirs in our cars have the pinkish stains around it. They will not give a definitive reason, but I have personally seen it on other LS430s with the hood up so i know it is quite common.
Ya'll will get a kick out of this one. I figured out that my cooling system wasn't completely burped after they did a timing belt and water pump. My car isn't using any coolant, they just did a crap job of topping it back off. It took me 3 days to get my coolant levels back to normal after adding a little day by day. I guess you could say I overreacted a little. Stupid oversight but thankfully nothing is wrong with my car at all!
Ya'll will get a kick out of this one. I figured out that my cooling system wasn't completely burped after they did a timing belt and water pump. My car isn't using any coolant, they just did a crap job of topping it back off. It took me 3 days to get my coolant levels back to normal after adding a little day by day. I guess you could say I overreacted a little. Stupid oversight but thankfully nothing is wrong with my car at all!
I think this is normal....when I got my car back, the coolant was in the middle. I topped it 2X to get it to full and stay. It was the same when I DIY'd my Maxima radiator (no heat at first). Why normal....because this is a manual and physical process. With BMW, it's automated, so if this happened with a BMW, the tech did not do his job and do the bleed properly, which is electrically, and that system/reservoir is pressurized and the water pump is electric...
